We got ready for our next acclimatization trip up the mountain and left around 5am a few days ago. Our aim was to get to camp 1 (#C1) at 6,100m and spend the night there before continuing upward.
This was the second time for me through the #Khumbu Icefall and Roeland’s third trip. And how much it had changed since our previous attempt weeks earlier? It was still a dodgy-ish path through jumble of ice blocks and towers, but the route had been re-directed in such a way that you no longer had to pass (or worse, get stuck waiting) between the Leaning Towers Of Icefall or sprint past the Archway of Doom (which was now a pile of ice on the ground). So it actually felt doable and ‘safer’ now.
My second and Roeland’s third time into the Icefall. As scary as it looks, it was actually much better this time around 
There is something as beautiful as this blue ice cave. Although not a place to hang around for too long, it is breathtakingly stunning
It was also more direct instead of the windy zigzag, which obviously saved us time getting through it. #Crevasses that I had just about managed to leap across before now had ladders in place making things easier. Although that was debatable — some of the wobblier, horizontal ones made my heart skip way too many beats.
Tim Mosedale from our #basecamp gang was an absolute legend and had offered us his empty tent in C1 for us to use for the night, which saved us precious energy and time as we pulled in at C1 seconds ahead of a snowstorm. Thanks,Tim.
Our home in C1 at night 
Another view of camp 1 – here you see how spread out it is
This time it took us just over five hours from BC to C1 with full rucksacks (instead of eight hours the first round), so there was some improvement in the acclimatization despite the several days of out-of-action. And it felt really good to be back on the mountain again…